Date of Award
Spring 4-20-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Computer Science
First Advisor
Despoina Perouli
Second Advisor
Dennis Brylow
Third Advisor
Marta Magiera
Fourth Advisor
Satish Puri
Abstract
Blockchains as a technology rely heavily on a wide range of computer science topics. These topics include: algorithms, data structures, network communication, cryptography and many more. These topics align nicely with topics often covered in undergraduate computer science course. Blockchain technology offers an interesting opportunity for computer science educa- tors. Blockchains rely heavily on a wide range of computer science topics. These topics include: cryptography, networking, data structures, and algorithms. Many of these top- ics are explored in undergraduate computer science programs either in core or elective classes. This offers an opportunity for teaching students about emerging technologies, such as blockchains by creating assignments that use the technology as the context. This work answers three research questions surrounding the adoption and student feedback about these assignments. 1. Are these assignments within the scope and complexity of the course as described in the syllabus? 2. Are blockchains effective in demonstrating applications of computer science con- cepts? 3. Do students learn more about blockchains through these assignments? The data spans two universities and was collected between 2023 and 2025 from 6 courses at the first institution and 2 at the second institutions. The data also includes preassignment and post assignment surveys that was collected from the students to gather additional feedback and sentiment about the assignments from the students. For all three research questions we saw positive support from the data we collected.